THE STRAWBERRY THIEF
A Book That Will Interest Young People In The Lives of Birds With an Adventurous Tale Of Resisting The Loss of Their Land and Their Way of Life
Children’s Book Review
Based on an iconic William Morris design, this middle-grade novel invites readers to enter into the secret lives of birds as they respond to a human threat to their environment.
Living in a rich and abundantly plentiful field, Bradley the sparrow thinks the only thing he and the other birds need to worry about is birds of prey. However, when men come to dig up the field they live in and clear it for a commercial strawberry crop, the birds realize their utopia may be coming to an end. The men are destroying habitats and have brought cunning tools and weapons to clear all the animals—including the birds—out. However, Bradley is a resourceful bird, determined not to give up without a fight.
Drawing on the different strengths and skills of the many other bird species in their community, Bradley and his friends learn new behaviors, strategize, and work together to find a way to survive the destruction of their home by humans. They outwit ceramic owls and a vicious dog meant to scare them away from the crop. Then, Bradley has his most clever idea yet—a plan to collapse the farmers’ protective netting so the birds can eat the strawberry crop!
The habits, behaviors, and relationships between species are described in vivid, knowledgeable detail, expanding readers’ scientific understanding of birds as they enjoy the story. Bradley and his friend Beth are lively, clever, and resourceful main characters, encouraging readers to sympathize with the birds’ perspectives. Throughout the story, beautiful watercolor artwork presents the bird characters with physiological accuracy as well as lively personalities. Best of all, the story ends on a positive note, with the farmers providing a feeding solution that benefits both the birds and the crops, showing that compromise is possible in the struggle between human progress and the natural world.
The Strawberry Thief is an engaging and instructive story about the wonderful resilience of the natural world and the power of teamwork—a testament to the strength and ingenuity of the natural world, and a call to action for us to protect and preserve it.
My inspiration for this book is the number of young people on our bird watching hikes. Their interest and knowledge of the birds, the different species and their behaviors is inspiring. I wish to motivate more young people to develop an interest in outings to field and forest. By creating this story, I hope young people will become interested in the lives of these most common of wild creatures, to learn more about the natural world as they hike in places that are at least slightly wild, and sometimes grandly and excitingly truly wild.
Available from Amazon as a paperback and as a Kindle version.
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Available from Barnes and Noble as a paperback and a Kindle book.
Contact: jcchandler.author@gmail.com
I’m a writer of fiction, fiction for adults, fiction for children, because it’s fun. It’s a gas, I have such a good time and I hope my joy of writing comes through for my readers.
I am a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and have done volunteer work for Independent Authors of Southern California, I love being around writers, they notice things, they find delight in small things and large.
My education includes undergraduate at California State University-Fullerton and graduate school at California Polytechnic University-Pomona and again at Fullerton. I have studied creative writing and art at Santa Monica College.
I live with my lovely wife in a small home in Marina del Rey, California. My table for thought and creation is in a breakfast nook with windows that face the street where I watch the birds, squirrels, and people waking their dogs (dogs walking their people?) through a screen of lemon trees and a single lime tree that reside in my front yard., my enchanting and inspirational neighbors in green. I’m a Californian, born in El Centro, you can learn more about that with a short Creative Non-Fiction Story at